Let me feel something other than pain
by ThePeculiarAvenger
Summary: A collection of one shots, mostly chronological, revolving around the relationship between Booth and Cam. Starts when they're teens and goes from there, so there WILL be some romance. However, When the stories fit in the show's timeline, the pairings are canon. Also, I ignored some plot points for this story because they made it harder for me to write. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The small New York park is rather empty, even for its size. There's a rickety slide with a roof and platform, the latter of which a young girl is determinedly attempting to reach as her mother stands watchfully beside the structure. Next to the slide is a small metal beam, complete with a boy perhaps a year younger than the girl sitting, swinging his legs. Further away from the slide and beam is a swing set, occupied by a boy of perhaps eight or nine years. Though the park is old and the sky is gray, there is still an aura of cheer, the kind of atmosphere one would expect from a playground. The only thing that could disrupt the photograph-esque scene is the bench, or, more accurately, the two teens on it. The boy is shifting, looking bored. The girl is bent over a notebook, a dark curtain of hair obscuring both its pages and her face.

"Why are you here?" The boy asks suddenly. Seeming surprised to be spoken to, the girl jerks up to look at him. He hurriedly alters his statement. "I mean, I'm here 'cause I'm watching my brother, Jared. He gestures to the boy on the swings. "Are you here for anyone?"

"I'm here to do homework. And to get away from my mom." The girl turns back to her notes, but this time, brushes her hair behind her ear.

"Does she… I mean, it's none of my business, but does she hurt you? Physically?" The boy sounds tentative, like he's afraid to overstep a boundary. Reasonable, considering the conversation.

"No. Not physically. But yours does." She looks back at him, the same solemn expression on her face.

"What? How did you-" He stutters, but why bother denying it? His father isn't here, and this girl has enough problems on her own. She's not going to care one way or the other.

"Your right shoulder. You're favoring it, and from the way it's resting you've probably suffered a partial dislocation recently. Your father, I'm guessing, based on your build and muscle. It would take a lot for someone to hurt you that badly." She's closed off and clinical as she rattle this off.

"You're smart," is all he can think to say.

"I have to be, to get out of here, don't I?" She asks.

He nods. "I'm Seeley," he offers. "But my friends call me Booth."

"Cam." She responds. "Well, Camille, but I hate that name." He doesn't ask. She doesn't elaborate. They sit in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all so much for the reviews of this story! It seems like you like it, and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!**

The hallway looks like your average high school hallway. This high school is perhaps of the shadier variety; all the normal cliques have slightly rougher edges, slightly darker auras. The whole picture has a rather violent feel. Your average students hurry, heads down, moving to their next class. A group of jocks lurk near the stairwell, muttering to themselves, winking at the girls, and stretching the limits as to how much class they can skip while still staying on their respective teams. Girls giggle and clutch at their boyfriends. In a corner near the auditorium, a small group of large upperclassmen are surrounding a freshman girl. It's clear that the altercation is quickly growing sour.

"You've always got your head in those books, you should look up once in a while. Smile." Cam jerks her head out of her biology notebook and fixes Rory Walker with a death glare that is the exact opposite of a smile.

"Maybe if you spent more time opening your books instead of trying to get girls to open their legs, you wouldn't be seventeen and still a sophomore," she retorts.

"You think you're so _smart_ -" Rory is angry now, not used to being shot down. As he backs her into a corner, another voice speaks up.

"Hey!" Booth yells. "What's your deal, Walker?" Let up a little, okay? You don't have to take everything so seriously." Rory and his friends back off, getting into and argument with Booth that stays on just the right side of friendly. Booth and Cam depart down the hallway, back to normal, at least for the five seconds it takes for Cam to roughly shove him around a corner and deck him.

"Do anything like that again and I'll break your nose," she hisses. Booth is still rubbing at his eye.

"What the hell, Camille?" He asks, more confused and in shock than actually angry.

"Seeley, I appreciate that you are a decent person who feels the need to protect people you view as needing to be saved. However, I am not one of those people. I can take care of myself, okay?"

He nods. "Don't call me Seeley."

"Don't call me Camille."


	3. Chapter 3

The air is cold, the sky is dark. Only one of the few street lights near the park actually works. Swings creak as they sway in the wind. The darkness of 3am on a Saturday has erased the normal atmosphere of the small playground, turning charming playsets into threatening shadows. By all assumptions, the playground should be empty. However, there is one girl, not possibly more than fourteen, sitting on a swing, rocking gently. She tosses a packet in the air, half bored, half at peace. Soon, a boy joins her. He sits on the next swing over with a sigh, and neither speak, or move at all, for a few minutes. Then, the girl looks at him. "What happened?"

"Bridget dumped me." He sounds morose and pathetic, but he is a moody teenager going through his first breakup, so it is to be expected. "I told her that I didn't want her to meet my folks, cause, well, _you_ know," he continues. "I guess she thought, I dunno, that I wasn't introducing her to them cause I was…. Hell if I know." He sighs again, and she turns to look at him, holding out the package.

"Cigarette?"

"No." He says this with more force than he intends, and she startles away, the chains of her swing shaking. "I mean, I don't have any problem with those. But, I'm not going near anything that I could possibly become dependent on. I'm not gonna end up like my dad."

She nods, understanding. "You're nothing like your dad, Seeley."

"You haven't even met my dad, Camille."

She raises an eyebrow in defiance. "Don't call me Camille."

"Don't call me Seeley." They join hands, somehow, and return to their normal routine of sitting in silent companionship, swaying gently without any sound until dawn begins to show on the horizon.


	4. Chapter 4

Cam needs sleep, so of course, it does not come. The night is dark, as most nights are, interrupted only by a glimmering streetlight or the flash of headlights. There is a New York silence, which is to say that the only noises are the rushing of cars, yelling of late - night drunkards, and the breaking of glass a few streets away. Just as Cam is lulled into that void, the limbo between awake and asleep, there is a rattling knock on the glass of her windows. She jolts awake.

"Seeley! What the fuck?" She hisses, opening the window with as little noise as possible and praying she doesn't wake her mother.

Booth is panting as he pushes Jared through the window, then steps in himself. "Sorry. It got too bad… we wouldn't have made it to Pop's house."

"Wouldn't have made it…" her question trails off as she realized that his stomach is bleeding, badly. "Shit. Okay. Um.." She looks around. "Sit down, try not to get blood on the bed." She can play it off to her mother as her period, but she'd rather not have to do too much explaining. Before she can act further, however, Booth shakes his head.

"Jared's arm is hurt. Fix him first," he pleads. Cam rolls her eyes. Turning, she examines Jared. It's clear immediately what the problem is.

"Jared, go lean against the closet door, facing me. Seeley, get behind him and hold him still. Uh.." She spies a rag sitting on the desk. It looks clean enough. "Bite down on this." Jared takes the cloth and stuffs it in his mouth, looking wary.

"Do you trust me?" Cam asks him. He nods. "Alright. I'll warn you; this will hurt." With that, she grabs him arm and pushes it up and back into the socket. He gives a scream of agony that is barely muffled by the rag. Booth clamps a hand over Jared's mouth just in time. After everyone is silent, Cam holds up a hand, signaling the others not to move. She listens for a minute, then nods. "Seeley, on the bed. Take off your shirt and relax."

Booth smirks. "Wow Camille, let me at least take you to dinner first."

She glares at him and stuffs the rag in his mouth. "Don't call me Camille."

Even though his response is unintelligible around the cloth, she knows what he says next.


End file.
